Pages

Thursday, September 8, 2011

A Little Get Away

As mentioned a few posts ago, I got to spend several days with my SIL and my nephew Jack and niece Ella recently. It was such a nice visit! We had so many adventures that it is hard to remember everything I wanted to blog about. Where to start!?!

First off, I had a dental visit the morning of our drive up and if you are regular reader, you know that is like an out-patient surgery for me in terms of my mental state and drugs. I will say that even though I was awake and functioning on the 4-hour trip up, it felt like a 15 minute drive. How fantastic is that?

Patrick and Pete had to work the next day and Jack was at day care, so we had our first girls day with Ella. Meg recently started sewing and I had a list of projects to show her of items I thought about making for the kids. It was SO nice to just sit on the couch and chat about life and projects.

(Aside: I LOVE working from home on Brownie Knits, but with the recent closure of the LYS I find that I'm crawling the walls here. It was WONDERFUL to share a bit of life with Meg. She is always such a great supporter of mine and a good all around person. Between talking with her and my walks and talks with Katie, I feel really blessed to not only count them both as family but as friends.)

Armed with ideas, we set out to shop a little at a craft store. I can't wait to get started on some of the projects for Miss Ella, one that will include the flowers pictured here.

After our trip and Ella's nap, we put the poor girl through a quick photo session for the headbands. She was a great sport about it all and looked adorable! I thought this one was funny. I imagine she is thinking, "What is wrong with you two?" When Jack got home for the night, he was so excited to spend time with us.

The next morning I got to spend some one-on-one time with Jack in the playroom. We played I Spy, looked at photos on the computer (he LOVES Kiki), and started to play hide and seek. A few funny things occurred during this play session that still make me giggle:

After seeing a picture of Uncle Patrick with facial hair and glasses, Jack wanted to know who it was with Aunt Gina? He TOTALLY didn't believe me and I think he was confused as to why I'd be with another guy!

I was promptly corrected by the 2-year-old when I forgot to give him his turn at I Spy.

We were each told what we would be when we grew up...Jack and Ella would be Spider Turtles, Meg would be a Queen Turtle, Uncle Patrick and Pete would be Crows (actually Scarecrows), and then he said about me, "IF you grow up you will be a Queen Lion." I was the only one in doubt of growing up! :)

And...my favorite...I decided to hide under all the sheets for my hiding place to get in a bit of a rest. I had the cover over my head, but I could see through it to tell when Jack came in. All of the sudden I see a much taller figure and Meg starts laughing at me and asks what I'm doing. Now, she had been upstairs tending to Ella and getting ready. It was really funny to have an adult discover you this way. We both got some laughs out of it.

After that we were off to the little beach where Ella was decked out in her swimsuit and Jack had fun water time and a good lunch. Love his beach hair and smiles.

THEN...we had some drama. As we drove back there was a large grasshopper on the front of the car. It managed to stay there the entire time. When we were getting out we showed Jack this little interesting creature. I went to catch it for him to set it free from the garage and show it to him. Well, it was one that can jump and fly a bit. The thing flew right onto Jack's forehead. I heard it land with a thump and Jack went CRAZY. It was all so comical and I am not all that accustomed to thinking like a two-year-old so I started laughing and then realized he was seriously freaked out. He grabbed mommy and said Aunt Gina get it out of here. The story stuck with him as he told the guys when they got home from work. He went to the park with Uncle Patrick that night and PK said each time he saw a grasshopper on the walk he would back up and his eyes would get large. The image will be one I remember when Jack is 40 and beyond.

To wrap up our fun visit, we celebrated my BIL's heritage. He moved here from Sweden not all that long ago and we are always peppering him with questions about his culture to learn all we can. He was very excited to have a Swedish Crayfish party. On his way home from work PK stopped at IKEA and picked up the crayfish and the crayfish party kit (in case you want to have one of your own)! Set with all the decorations, songbooks, hats, crayfish, and even a Swedish flag, we were ready to eat, sing, and drink. What fun! When we told Jack it was a party with songs, he assumed it was a birthday party so we all sang happy birthday to Jack, Mama, Pappa, Ella, Aunt Gina, and Uncle Patrick. Hilarious!

So...you eat crayfish and sing songs. The songs are drinking songs, so you take shots of Vodka.

Pete and Patrick drank the Vodka!

As you can see, we had a blast. Thanks Meg and Pete for being such great hosts!